


the story.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: captured moments. [24]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, One Shot Collection, Short One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24444277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: Rey woke up to the smell of food, and she slowly sat up and tried to stretch. She stopped immediately when pain shot through her dislocated shoulder, so she glanced at the clock instead.  Seven o’clock.  Ben must be cooking dinner.That made her pause.  Ben never cooked dinner.  Even now with Rey injured, they’d been ordering in every night since Rey couldn’t cook herself.She was now intrigued.or:  Ben's attempt at a romantic dinner ends with Rey telling him the truth about her parents.(this will make little sense if you haven't read the rest of the captured moments series.)
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: captured moments. [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602691
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	the story.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, I felt like giving you all a present on my birthday, Happy Birthday to me.
> 
> I know that I said on Monday that there would be no story today, but I find that I can't stop myself from writing no matter how much I really should stop myself from writing, so here, have this. It started out as something and ended up something completely different, but this story needed to be told and it works so I'm going with it.
> 
> I don't know how many of these are left, but we're nearing the home stretch, I know that much. 
> 
> and as always, if you like what you read, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void. enjoy!

Rey woke up to the smell of food, and she slowly sat up and tried to stretch. She stopped immediately when pain shot through her dislocated shoulder, so she glanced at the clock instead. Seven o’clock. Ben must be cooking dinner.

That made her pause. Ben never cooked dinner. Even now with Rey injured, they’d been ordering in every night since Rey couldn’t cook herself. 

She was now intrigued.

She stood and walked out of the bedroom, the smell getting more and more appealing as she got closer to the kitchen. When she got there, Ben was standing at the stove stirring something, and she could tell that there was something in the oven as well. “Ben?”

Ben jumped and looked over at Rey, taking four deep breaths. “You’re awake.”

“I’m awake,” Rey confirmed. 

Ben took another two deep breaths. “I was trying to surprise you.”

“You have surprised me,” Rey said, walking up to him. “What are you making?”

“Parmesan chicken bites with spaghetti to put them over,” Ben said. “It’s one of my favorites that Mama makes.”

Rey smiled. “You’ve never made me dinner before.”

“Because you’re usually working, and when you haven’t been, I’ve been exhausted from dealing with idiots all day,” Ben said. “Not because I am incapable of cooking.”

“I can’t wait to try it then. When is it going to be ready?”

“Should be ready in a few minutes. I was going to go wake you up now.”

Rey laughed. “I guess I beat you to that.”

Ben reached for her and carefully drew her into a kiss. “Go sit down. I’ll bring you a plate in a moment.”

Rey nodded and headed for the table, smiling when she saw how it was set with silverware and decorated with candles. “Candles?”

Ben swallowed hard. “I can’t try to be romantic?”

“You can happily try to be romantic,” Rey said. “I just think there might be too many.”

Ben walked over to the table with concern on his face. “There’s only five.”

“Yes, but only the big one in the middle will suffice,” Rey said. “I don’t want to set the table on fire.”

“Right, right,” Ben said, shaking his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Rey said seriously. “But I think the pot is about to boil over.”

Ben ran back to the stove and turned the burner off, quickly picking up the pot and pouring the spaghetti into the strainer. The oven timer went off and he grabbed the hot pads, getting the chicken out and taking a deep breath as he looked at it. It looked done, and it should be done, but still, he reached for a fork and cut into one of the pieces of chicken to be sure.

The last thing he needed to be doing was to serve Rey chicken that wasn’t cooked. She was injured enough. Getting food poisoning on top of that would be horrific.

Satisfied that the chicken was done, Ben poured the spaghetti into a bowl and then reached for a plate, putting some of the spaghetti on the plate before adding the chicken and the sauce on top of it. He took seven deep breaths and then walked over to the table and set it down in front of Rey. “I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure I will, honey,” Rey said, smiling at him. “It looks delicious.”

Ben grabbed the lighter and lit the candle that Rey had said would work, went and served himself a plate, and then turned off the lights. Rey was already eating by the time that he sat down, and he took eighteen deep breaths before asking her. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s amazing,” Rey said, smiling at him. “You’re going to have to make this for me again.”

Ben breathed a sigh of relief. “I was so worried I was going to fuck it up. Or that I hadn’t cut the chicken into small enough pieces for you to be able to eat it. Or that I hadn’t cooked the spaghetti enough.”

“Ben,” Rey interrupted. “Don’t worry about it anymore, okay? You didn’t fuck it up. It really is amazing.”

Ben nodded and began to eat, and they ate in silence for a while. “How are you feeling?” he eventually asked.

“I’m in quite a bit of pain still,” Rey said, reaching for her glass of water. “I think that by the time we’re done with dinner, I’ll be able to take some more pain killers.”

“Eight-thirty,” Ben said, and Rey tilted her head to the side. 

“What?”

“You can’t take more until eight-thirty,” Ben said. “I have an alarm set on my phone.”

Rey set her fork down and reached across the table, squeezing Ben’s hand. “Really?”

Ben nodded. “Is that not okay? Because if it’s not okay I can cancel it.”

“It’s wonderful,” Rey said, squeezing his hand again. “I just didn’t know you were doing that.”

“I want you to take them on time,” Ben explained. “Not too soon and cause you problems, or too long and cause you pain.”

“You’re so good to me,” Rey said, pulling back and picking up her fork. “I don’t deserve you.”

“I’m the one who doesn‘t deserve you,” Ben said, shaking his head. “I’ve never deserved you.”

“I really wish you’d realize how special you are, Ben,” Rey said softly. “You’re the most important thing in the world to me. The best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Ben took twelve deep breaths. “I’m trying,” he whispered. “I’m trying so hard.”

“I know, honey,” Rey said, smiling at him. “And you’ll get there.” 

“You deserve so much better than I’m able to give you,” Ben murmured. “And I’ll totally understand when you leave me. I really will.”

“Ben,” Rey said sharply, “I am not going to leave you. Ever.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me,” was out of Ben’s mouth before he could stop it, and he really hadn’t meant to say that. “Fuck, I didn’t mean that.”

Rey sat there for a few moments before taking a very large sip of her water. “You think I’m lying to you about all of this?”

“Not really,” Ben said, taking five deep breaths. “But there are moments where I just cannot believe that you’re telling me the truth. I cannot believe that anyone would want to put up with what you have to go through for the rest of their life. I’m going to end up alone because I should end up alone.”

“Oh, Ben,” Rey said, pushing her chair back and grabbing her plate. 

She walked around the table and set the plate down in front of the chair next to him, and Ben quickly helped her pull the chair out and sit down. She turned to him once she was seated, reaching out to make him look at her. “Listen to me, Benjamin Solo. I love you exactly how you are. Exactly. Are things more challenging with you than they would be with someone else? At times, yes. But the rewards for those challenges are so much better than they would be with anyone else. I’ve had a lot of boyfriends who were all complete dicks in the end. You’re not that. You’re worth everything I’ve had to go through to get to this point. You’re even worth what I had to go through with my grandfather.”

“Don’t say that,” Ben interrupted. “Don’t say I am worth you being hurt.”

“The injuries aren’t the only thing that happened that day, you know. There was a lot of talking too,” Rey pointed out. “And he was more of an asshole than you could imagine. He kept bringing up my parents as though the fact that they’re dead has anything to do with the fact that I love you. You know how hard it is for me to talk about them, and so does he. None of that mattered to him. He just wanted to hate me because I found love and he lost his.”

“What?” Ben asked before he could stop himself.

Rey closed her eyes and took six deep breaths. “My grandmother was killed in a bus accident when my father was four-years-old,” she started, keeping her eyes closed. “My father became everything that my grandfather had. The last piece of her that he had. Then my father met my mother while they were students at the university. She was here on an exchange program. They fell in love, and my grandfather became incredibly jealous of her because she was taking his son away from him. 

“When they graduated, my mother wanted to go back to London, so my father went with her. My grandfather was furious. My parents were never married and that made him even angrier. It wasn’t until I was born that their relationship began to be repaired. But we stayed in London no matter how much he wanted us to come back here. Then that horrible night happened and suddenly I was all that was left. Not only his last piece of his son but his last piece of my grandmother. 

“He was so kind to me when I first moved here. I think it was because he understood my grief because he’d experienced so much of it. But as I grew older and started to look more and more like my mother, his anger built. She was the one who had taken her son away from him, off to England and out of sight. She was the one who had wanted to walk back home that night instead of taking a taxi. There’s no way for us to know that, of course, but that’s what he wants to think. 

“So I always knew that telling him about meeting the right man was going to anger him more than I’d ever seen before. It was going to be a man taking away the last piece of them that he has. With the past abuse, I knew that was likely going to happen once I told him. I knew that this might happen, was probably going to happen, and I went over there anyway. He had to be told that you were it, honey, no matter the consequences.”

Rey opened her eyes and tears slipped down her cheeks. Ben quickly reached out and brushed them away, unsure of what to say. “Rey,” he started.

“You are worth the world to me, Ben,” Rey said, sniffling. “You are worth anything I have to go through to be with you. And are there challenges with loving you? Absolutely. But they are challenges I’m willing to take on because I love you. I love you and I’m always going to love you. One day you’re going to believe that. I know you are.”

Ben didn’t know what to do but he leaned forward and kissed Rey gently. “I’d go through anything for you too,” he made himself say, pushing past his fear. “Absolutely anything.”

Rey gave him a watery smile. “Really?”

Ben nodded. “I love you so much, Rey. And I’m terrible at showing you that, telling you that.”

“No, honey, you’re not,” Rey said, caressing the side of his face. “You may not always be able to say it, but I know. I promise you that I know.” 

“I’ll try to believe that,” Ben said softly. “I really will.”

“I know,” Rey said, turning back to her plate. “I bet this is cold now.”

“I can go warm it up then,” Ben said, taking the plate. “I’ll be right back.”

Rey nodded and Ben went into the kitchen, putting the plate in the microwave for a minute. He came back to the table and found Rey with her hand over her face, sobbing. “Rey,” Ben said, setting the plate down and carefully pulling her up into his arms. “Whatever it is, darling, it’s okay.”

Rey buried her face in Ben’s neck as his arms gently encircled her. “It was a robbery gone wrong,” she got out. “They were knifed to death. That’s all I know. My grandfather thought I was too young to know details and now I just don’t want to know them. It’s just going to make it hurt that much more.”

“Oh, darling,” Ben said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

“None of my other relationships got to the point of meeting the family,” Rey said after a moment. “But you, I’ve known your family since the very beginning. I’ve been accepted by them since the very beginning. And you don’t know what that means to me, Ben. You’ll never know what it means to have an actual family again.”

Rey pulled back and Ben drew her into a deep kiss. “I’d give you the world if I could,” he found himself saying. “But I’m glad that I can give you a family again.”

Ben kissed her again and Rey sniffled when they broke apart. “I never want to talk about this again, okay? Not unless I absolutely have to.”

“I will never make you talk about this again,” Ben said seriously. “I promise.”

“Thank you,” Rey said, turning back to the table. “Food is probably cold again.”

“Then I’ll heat it up again,” Ben said, letting go of Rey and reaching for the plate.

“No,” Rey said, shaking her head. “Let’s just be done with dinner and go watch a movie.”

Ben wanted to say that he was still hungry but doing what Rey needed was more important. “Popcorn?”

“Yes,” Rey said, walking around Ben. “I’ll go set it up.”

“What are we watching?” Ben called out.

“ _Lord of the Rings_!” Rey called back. “Fellowship, and then Two Towers, and then Return of the King.”

“That’ll take us ten hours to watch!”

“I know!”

Ben closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then picked up the plates and carried them into the kitchen. 

If Rey needed ten hours of _Lord of the Rings_ to feel better, then ten hours of _Lord of the Rings_ was what would happen. Whatever Rey needed.

Ben really would do anything for her. Absolutely anything.


End file.
